Ranma ½ Magic within Chap 9+

[Ryogas_BF]

Copmments
Darkforce222 - I enjoyed finally getting Ku Fei properly introed into the plot, she big personal plot is a ways off but starting now she will be showing up more, as she is privy to several things.

PCheintz72 - no, there will be no quick forgiveness scene. Things will likely be awkward until Kyoto, though Ryoga's intro falls in before that so I'm not sure how Konoka will be invovled... the end of this arc with have a lot of reveals that will throw a lot of the current dynamics around.

Reven - You don't know the half of it ^_^

Chapter 11

it was early the next morning that found Ranma sitting across from Evangeline, two cups of Chachamaru's brew in front of them. The dark mage leveled an impassive gaze over the boy as she calmly sipped her tea. Ranma refused to meet the gaze, looking an even mix of tired and frustrated, his own cup untouched.

"Now let me get this straight." she finally broke the silence with an even tone. "Your clone has gone rogue and run off. Neither you nor springfield's little crew could find a hint of a trail, all those in on your little charade are looking to you for answers and in a few hours when all the fools wake up theirs a solid chance that entire class of idiots could be up in arms looking for it?" she allowed a pause to linger if only to take in how the boys body tensed despite his silence. "Oh yes, you have complete control of the situation. I don't know how I ever could have doubted you." Ranma twitched as she laid the sarcasm on thick.

"I get it already damn it you don't have to rub it in." he grumbled, a sleepless night of searching the campus had not down much for his mood.

"Your lucky I'm not hammering it into that thick skull of yours any harder boy." Eva shot back with just as much heat. "I'm surprised it hadn't happened sooner with how much to use that thing. I don't know why I wasted the breath warning you about drift. We have to find that clone before Springfield or your little conscience might ruin everything. I'm be twice damned if I lose thins chance because of some magic hiccup."

"I said I get it!" Ranma's fist slammed into the sturdy table cracking the wood. Evangeline eyed the crack before bringing the gaze back to her conspirator's annoyed glare.

"I expect to be reimbursed for the damages." the anger drained away in a groan as Ranma took a moment to collect himself.

"Look, I'm not ain't thrilled about this either. This kind of crap has never happened before, I think theres something wrong with the pendent itself."

"Hm?" Eva raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean?" the dark mage treaded carefully. The pendent was an artifact of moderate power. Misuse was one thing but something wrong with the artifact itself was something completely different.

"Well It started to heat up, I noticed it last night and it's starting to get uncomfortable to wear..."

"What?" red flags went up in Evangeline's mind. "Do you have it with you?" her voice has switched from mild annoyance to dead serious. Enough for Ranma to take easy notice.

"Um yeah..." He pulled a small handkerchief from his pocket, unfolding the cloth revealing the pendent. To the untrained eye nothing appeared to be wrong but as she looked over the item sh gained a small frown. "What?"

"I don't like it, it's magic aura is off... Can you cancel the clone?"

"Don't you think I would have already?" he muttered a little of his earlier annoyance making a return. "I can only create or dismiss at limited distance away from me... wherever she is it's too far."

"Damn..." Eva raised her gaze to meet his own. "Well I keep this with you and you cancel that clone as soon as you can, I don't care if it's in public."

"...Eva what's wrong with it?"

"I don't know." Eva replied returning her gaze back to the pendent. "and That's what's bothering me. Normally I'd take it to the resort and get a closer look but dismissing that clone is more important. Do whatever you can to find it. after that mess is cleared up I'll be able to get a better look at it."

"Right." Ranma bundled up the small artifact and pocketed once more, if evangeline was worried then he knew he had to get this sorted out. "I'll head out now, I'll call you when I've got things settled."

"You better." they two conspirator's held a silent gaze before the pigtailed boy hopped up and made his way back out. Evangeline looked over to her side. "Chachamaru."

"Yes Mistress." The Gynoid replied without hesitation.

"I want you to go look for the clone." for a moment Eva could swear she saw a slight twitch of relief on her partners placid face.

"I understand.... But if Negi-sensei or the others spot me out looking they may have questi-"

"I gave you an order." Eva cut off the statement simply with no nonsense. A hint of a smile seemed to twitch at the Gynoid's lips before she bowed.

"I'm on my way." Chachamaru headed out the door without a backward glance, leaving Evangeline staring at the door a short moment before giving a grunt of annoyance.

"That idiot..." she stood and moved on to the back room where her bottled resort rested. She needed to work on something to get her mind of things.

end Snippet

A bit of a time skip, but this does set the scene of things to come. I did my best to show case the dynamics of Ranma's and Eva's relationship.

There will be a lot of our confused little clone Ranko in this chapter as well as a lot of Kaede. Still debating this last bit but the amazons make make their presence known again, not sure exactly if I should or not but Ranko is outside of the the school limits and thus fair game...

 

[PCHeintz72]

Two items caught my eye

"Look, I'm not ain't thrilled about this either.

Use 'not' or 'ain't', not both.

"That idiot..." she stood and moved on to the back room where her bottled resort rested. She needed to work on something to get her mind of things.

'of' s/b 'off'

 

[windfalcon]

:evil2:

Oh the fun to be had ^^

 

[Nanya]

"Oh crap! The clones are running free."

"Send in the hounds!"

"But we don't have any hounds!"

"Well... We're boned, aren't we?"

 

[Seed00]

This will not end well, and I still feel like Ranma and Ranko will drift apart or when the truth is out, male Ranma will not exactly be seen favorably. Even though they may be the same people, I can't help but feel that at this point, Ranko will get the majority of focus from now on.

Where this story goes, I still wonder, but since you din't focus much on Negi's activities even when he was there, I still think there may be some original stuff. At least, I hope so.

 

[Darkforce222]

Right now Ranma and Ranko are the very definition of "split apart". I'm also kind of worried about things slipping into a Ranko-centric state, but I know both the Ryoga and Kyoto arcs are both going to be heavily Ranma-focused so it's probably just me being paranoid.

Good stuff, as usual. I like how Chachamaru cares about both sides of Ranma, as well as Eva's usual mix of caring and ego-breaking scorn.

 

[Ryogas_BF]

*blows dust off the thread* man I hope it's still in good shape.

er right, anway I have a snippet! but first a little rant

Sorry for the long long wait but well... I've had written and re written the chapter several times now as I just couldn't get things to fall they way I wanted... The Ranko situation was really the route of it all and I waffled between permanent splitting, utilizing that other amazon body from chapters back or out right destroying the artifact all together. In the end all i did was complicate things to an unneeded point. So In the end I've come to the simplest conclusion... Ranko is Ranma. The clone is merely representative of Ranma's guilty conscience, stress and overuse of the artifact... I will still accomplice what I need for this arc but no new characters will be created. I'll likely keep Ranma with the artifact but most of the main cast will be in on things so he won't need to use it constantly like his has in the last couple chapters.

anyway that rant out of that way might as well get you what you really care about. It's not much but I'm working on this so hopeful i should have more soon.

Snippet!
There was a tense quiet amongst the chaos of the morning run, the haggard faces of the late night search party were a testament to the atmosphere. There had been no sign of Ranko since her explosive exit and to those in the know Ranma's confusion of the whole event was even twice as worrying. Konoka looked the most worse for wear, only Setsuna's guiding hand keeping her from veering off the path. Though Negi, despite all his own problems, looked just as troubled at his student's disappearance. Even he seemed very reluctant to stop the search for school despite his authoritative position. Asuna was barely restraining herself from heading off on her own. Mana seemed withdrawn on the whole situation and even the normally cheerful Sayo and Ku were lost in the uncomfortable silence. An unexpected lead however changed everything...

"Sensei, do you have a minute?" A soft tone pierced the morose silence as Zazie Rainyday stepped out from one of the adjacent streets.

"Um, well there isn't much time before the first bell." Negi did his best to put on a present expression. "What was it you needed?"

"it is in regards to Ranko Saotome." in one simply statement brought all eyes to her.

"Eh?!"

"Have you seen her?" Asuna's was practically shaking with nervous energy, The acrobat met the sudden excitement with the same disinterested expression even as she gave a curt nod.

"There isn't much time, please follow." and with that she turn and began to head off the main street. She only gave a passing look back to confirm that the whole group was right at her heels, class completely forgotten.

"Where is she? Shouldn't we get a hold of Ranma fir-" Sayo began but found herself cut midway but strangely verbose acrobat.

"No." Zazie shook her head. "She wished to keep hidden from him, she only want to speak Negi-sensei." Mana and Setsuna exchanged a look of surprise at that.

"Is she okay?" Negi's alarm bells were ringing, this whole situation seemed off.

"It is... hard to explain." Zazie evaded the question a hint of hesitation in her voice. "You will soon see."

Their guide went silent from then on as the group went further off the beaten path. From high up on the rooftops Chachamaru watched the crowd head off, she touched a button hidden by her head accessories. "Master, I may have found a lead..."

1234321

Zazie led the group far off the main roads of mahora city and the campus proper to the outlying forest areas. The trek had done little to help sayo and konoka's tiredness from the late night search hovering toward the back of the crowd while the rest soldiered on.

"Where are you taking us Rainyday?" Mana asked unsure of the out of the way terrain, they had no reason NOT to trust their classmate but even so...

"The Ringmaster's cabin." She replied curtly. "It's private." she added seemly for clarification. It was shortly after that the path seemed to open into a clearing and a rustic cabin came into view.

"Eh? is that?" Ku pointed out a small bit of red among the green. A figure slumped under on of the nearby trees.

"Ranko!" the shout seemed to get a stir from the distant figure who looked up to greet them. Though as they closed in the excitement drained. Ranko seemed out of place, her skin and hair seemed to flicker between full color and a much more faded tone. She passed the confused group a bemused grimace and shook her head.

"You brought a crowd... well this is gonna get awkward."

end snippet

Just moving things along... we have many revelations incoming and a fight to build to.

 

[Seed00]

I've been waiting for this scene. Will Ranko reveal the full truth about being Ranma's female form or not? I guess the whole 'I am Ranma Saotome stuck as a girl, and can't do anything about it' is coming to a head.

Ranma and Evangeline vs Negi and Ranko. Will it happen? Hmm, considering Negima is about NEgi and his students (female students that is). Where will Ranma even sit even if he keeps his curse? The girls will know the truth about him at that point, and unlike Negi the kid, he's a full blown male teenager.

How will he even hang around for that matter?

 

[Muramasa]

It's been so long since I read this.... Whoo boy, I may need to take a day or two to refresh my memory.


But it is good to see this story updated again. Thanks RyogaBF.



I'm already looking forward to see what Ranko does here.

 

[armedlord]

For a second there, I thought someone did a necro, but to my surprise, you're back on the horse so to speak.

To put it simply from my understanding, Ranma won't be having an actual sister from the artifact now huh?

Mmmm, nothing worthwhile I can think of for an omake...but we'll see later on.

 

[Lanceavalon]

Holy fucking shit... someones spiked my pot I'm having hallucinations of a Ryogas_BF update!!!

 

[windfalcon]

COuld be worse, least it's not a windfalcon update you're hallucinating about.

Nicely done man ^^

 

[Nanya]

:rant: WHO THE HELL NEC... :blink:

HOLY CRAP! An update! My bad! :sweat:

Well, this is going to be very interesting, that's for sure.

Awkward doesn't cover it.

 

[Seed00]

Why would I necro this? I was just as surprised as you guys. By the way, Paris is great.

 

[nuclear death frog]

Somewhat amusing that this updates just as I finish rereading it.

 

[ringlhach]

Sounds like we need to nag you into reading more mostly-dead-but-incomplete fics.

 

[PCHeintz72]

Sounds like we need to nag you into reading more mostly-dead-but-incomplete fics.

I have a potentially huge list of candidates for him...


Regrettibly, while our tastes overlap in some areas, they are hardly the same.

 

[nuclear death frog]

Sounds like we need to nag you into reading more mostly-dead-but-incomplete fics.

Ah, if only that worked.

 

[Druid]

I'm actually relieved that Ranko won't become her own person. Not to say it can't, and hasn't been done. Just that I think what you seem to have in mind works better for me in this story. I'm glad to see you writing more of this as well.

 

[Ryogas_BF]

Seed00 - I'm nixing the split idea, at least for now. there was way too much extra stuff that came with that. It was really gewtting in the way of my writting so even though I lose out on some fun scenes I decided that it would flow much better if I get rid of that whole sub plot.

Armedlord - yeah that's basically it

Lance - It's all in your miiiinnnddd *waves hands in a spooky fashion*

NDF - Funny how that happens it's actually the nicest thing to hear that someone would even want to reread it at all.

Druid - I'm glad to be writing this too. It's been my greatest frustration that I couldn't figure out how to continue.

Snippet!

"You were supposed to stay inside." Zazie stated with a slight frown. The fading red head shrugged.

"I wanted some fresh air"

"R-Ranko?" Asuna was the first one to recover rushing to her side but reluctant to touch. "Is. Is that really you?"

"Not exactly," she replied scratching the back of her head. "I'm more like a copy."

"Copy?" Asuna took a moment to process this odd statement before covering her face. "Don't tell me. Ranko's a mage too?"

"Fine I won't tell you." The clone said with a bemused grin. Asuna let out a pained groan before giving the clone a solid punch in the shoulder causing the girls color to fade almost transparent before flickering back on. "Hey careful, I' barely holding my form together as it is."

"Jerk, How come I'm always out of the loop?" she gave a frustrated sigh as Negi approached to join her.

"Where's the real Ranko?"

"You don't have to worry, she's safe with Ranma." the false ranko said leaning back against the trunk.

"wait... you mean the Ranko last night was-"

"Yeah, me."

"T-Then where is-"

"Look I," The clone raise a hand in hopes of stopping that line of questioning. "It's really complicated and I don't got much time left." Ranko focused her gaze on the young teacher. "The one you need to be worrying about is yourself."

"What?"

"It's about Evangeline." That caught everyones attention, even Ku Fei who looked more confused then anything. "She's got a second partner."

"Eh?!"

"B-But I thought you could only have one." Asuna turned to Negi in hopes of clarification but he looked on the verge of panic himself.

"That's what my sister always said!"

"Not if it was Temporary." Eyes turned back to Konoka as she tried to work it out. "Um, I was talking with Chamo-kun about the whole Pactio thing. he said the only limit to temporary pactio's was the power of the mage they were linked to. If Eva is as stong as she claims..." the rest went unsaid, tension grew as Negi gathered his composure.

"Ranko-san... Do you know who?"

""Yeah," the clone turned her gaze away ashamed. "Ranma."

"What!" the growing tension erupted into renewed state of panic, only Sayo, zazie, and the clone wincing at the volume.

"T-That has to be some kind of mistake." Konoka muttered.

"I'm sorry, but it's true." The false Ranko's voice barely carried through the clearing. "We-" she paused for a moment to collect herself. "He had been trying to convince you not to get involved. The last thin he wanted to to do is fight against you." She looked from Asuna to Konoka before eventually wheeling her eyes back to Negi. "Even you sensei. You've done a lot for me since you started teaching here I..." the clone lowered her eyes unable to continue the confession.

"Ranko-san."

"Then Why?" Asuna fists clenched tightly at her side. "Why is he helping her?"

"Asuna... it's"

"A promise." Everyone turned to the entrance of the clearing to see Ranma standing, a grim expression as he started down the group. The clone began to laugh slowly shaking her head.

"Well speak of the devil." the clone flicked as she gained a smile smirk. "Your too late, I already told them. Don't have much power left anyway." He didn't reply at first, reaching into his pocket and pulling out some folded cloth. "Surprised you didn't stop me, you probly could have a couple of minutes ago."

"They were gonna find out anyway." He replied evenly.

"Ranma," Asuna looked between the resigned clone and her cold male counterpart. "This has to be some kind of misunderstanding... you can't really." she trailed off unable to muster the voice to continue. Ranma's expression dipped but he tried to hold firm.

"Asuna It's," he paused pulling the amulet free from the cloth ignoring the uncomfortable heat of the artifact. "It's just something I have to do. Please, don't make this any harder then it already is..."

"I could always make it easier if ya give me a couple of minutes." The clone piped in helpfully. Ranma frowned and closed his eyes.

"I think you've said more then enough." he took a breath bracing himself for for the oncoming flood as the clone disappeared in a puff of smoke. He grit his teeth as the memories rushed in trying to keep focused but it was too much for the martial artist to handle.

"Ranma!" Konoka, Asuna and Sayo started toward the boy as his legs gave out but were stopped as he was caught just before the ground. The crouched figure easily shifted the teens weight into a more comfortable position as she turned to face the trio, her Gothic outfit casting a strong contrast with the area' terrain. Sayo tried to continue but Asuna grabbed her arm holding her back. The former ghost looked back puzzled as the tense atmosphere both Mana and setsuna had they weapons prepared to draw, even the normally passive Zazie looked like she was ready to pounce.

"Chachamaru-san" Ultimately is was Negi that spoke up first, despite his nerves he did his best to put on a calm face.

"I have not come here to fight." She spoke in her usual unflappable manner even when confronted by so many of her classmates. "I am here to ensure the well being of Ranma Saotome."

"Ranma is already in safe hands, I think it's in your best interest to step away." Mana eyes Ranma carefully, seeming to weigh the odds of engaging the bodyguard without risking her target.

"I'm sorry, but I can't do that."

"Y-You can't take all of us." Konoka spoke up covering her own nerves.

"My my, emotions are really running high." The bemused voice of Evangline seemed to carry through the clearing. "You should all cool off." a trio of Catalysts arced in from the forest edge.

"Get down!" Setsuna and Mana went into action shooting and cutting the bottle out of the sky leaving a snowy mist to rain softly down. The Vampire herself strolled out from the shadows of the trees, the cape fluttering at her shoulders form the chill wind a wick grin on her lips.

"Sorry to say girls but Ranma belongs to me." she stated with the utmost confidence, relishing in the heated glares being sent her way.

"Evangeline..." Negi swallowed not ready to confront the vampire but unable to remain silent. "It's me you want isn't it? You don't need to be involving the Saotomes or any of the girls." he seemed to find a well of strength

"Now Boyo, it's no fun if you just surrender." the undead mage shook her finger in disappointment. "Besides, Ranma has been bound into my service for a long time." she said stroking the unconscious boy's cheek before giving him a thoughtful look. "Though perhaps I allowed him a bit too much freedom. Oh well, I'll have to be sure to adjust that for later."

"Y-You Monster!" Asuna looks a hair away from charging forward, only the hand resting on Ranma seemed to keep her back. Evangline couldn't help but look pleased.

"Flattery will only get you so far Kagurazaka." she countered smoothly as she hopped up and sat atop Ranma's body as if it were a throne. "But I unfortunately don't have the time to play today. I'll be looking forward to your showing though negi-sensei. Chachamaru."

"Yes Mistress." with a rush of pressure The maid took tot he air carrying Ranma and evangline away with rockets from her back. Negi and his students watched helplessly as the dark mage vanished from sight. Only Sayo seemed to be looking on with something akin to hurt.

'Eva-san...'

"Well it seems she's holding all the cards." Setsuna said in a tight voice reshething her blade. She wanted nothing more then to knock the smug smirk of that vampire's face but she couldn't let that cloud her judgment. "I think we need to talk about our next steps. Sensei?"

"Yes... I, I'm really not sure where to begin though." His inexperience was showing clearly but the situation had been far over his head even from the beginning.

"Um, it would be nice if someone could start from top." Ku fei said scratching her head. "I'm very lost-aru."

"Eh?" Negi paled a little looking from the chuckling baka yellow to Zazie would gave a slight wave.

"That would be nice." the acrobat said with hardly a twitch in her expression. Negi's eyes passed to Mana next who was slipping the pistol back into her school bag. The mercenary blinked at the sudden scrutiny and waved it off.

"I'm fine," she said in a neutral tone, her earlier emotions locked away. "I pretty much knew what was going on to this point." That did little to help the boys mood as he covered his face.

"I'm going to get turned into an ermine for sure... how'd that memory spell go again..."

"I think you have much bigger things to worry about Negi. Hey! put that staff down." Asuna tired to wrestle the staff away from the panicked teacher... though somewhere in the confusion one girl had slipped away.

end snippet

This part flowed quite nicely for me writing this whole scene out. I had debated on bridging the issue of Jusenkyo here as well but I just couldn't fit it in at all so that will still be lingering for a bit longer. I really wanted Eva to play up being the 'big bad' here and had a lot of fun with it.

 

[armedlord]

A nitpick before I go to sleep. A nitpick of using "Your" and "You're" to be exact.

'Your' is possessive like 'This jacket is yours.' or 'This is your fault.' or 'You did Your best.' as examples.

'You're' is simple: 'You are'. 'You're here!' or 'You're not going to get away from this!' or 'You're a girl!' as good examples.

Thus:

"Your too late, I already told them. Don't have much power left anyway."

Should be:

"You're too late, I already told them. Don't have much power left anyway."

A lot of people keep on mistaking that (on FF.net) and it pisses me off at times. You don't do it often, but just a reminder to keep your guard up so to speak on that little nitpick. The others in that last snippet are fine other than that.

 

[Nanya]

Hmm... I wonder which girl slipped away... Sayo?

And, I forget, how did she get to be a former ghost again?

 

[nuclear death frog]

She's inhabiting the body of an Amazon shaman who Mana killed, more or less. The body wasn't fatally damaged, so it's as if her spirit just replaced the owner. It could only work because Sayo had been a ghost so long that she'd gained some strength hanging around Mahora.

 

[Seed00]

To armedlord,

That's hilarious. I was having a discussion about that very subject two hours ago. The writer made the same darn mistake every. single. chapter.

To Ryogas

I'm not sad that you nixed it. However, you're the writer. You decided what to nix or not to nix. Even more tension between Asuna and Ranma. She'll get over it and start beating on his head. That's if Mana doesn't get there first or Sayo.
-------

Yep, Sayo pretty much knows the whole story about Ranma's situation. Feelings for Ranma: pretty darn strong. I think they had a silent moment a while back.


Those two *are* pretty darn close and a paction between her and Ranma is pretty much possible.

 

[Muramasa]

I have to admit, I am a bit disappointed to see the *split* subplot nixed... but well, I'll get over it.




Upon the snippit: Wow, Eva really could have given Ranma the shaft here and played up his betrayal toward the group.

Instead, she comes off as the big bad who's forced Ranma into the situation he's in right now and effectively taking the blame for everything... which is also not entirely true.


Overall not what I was expecting but still a good snippit.